The County of Stettler submitted a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs regarding uncollectible School Tax requisitions and Seniors Housing requisitions which municipalities must collect and remit. In many cases, oil and gas companies have become insolvent and they have been unable to recover the School Tax and Seniors Housing requisitions levied against those companies. From 2013 - 2016 they forwarded $260,882.28 in School Tax and $27,826.29 in Senior Housing and are predicting a further loss of $174,367 in School Tax and $21,534 in Senior Housing for 2017.
In their letter to Municipal Affairs, they County of Stettler requested:
- reimbursement for uncollectible School Tax and Seniors Housing remittances from 2013-2016,
- that the Assessment Services Branch should not allow for taxation of properties that they know are insolvent or under protection
- amendments to the MGA and other provincial legislation to improve the ability of municipalities to recover unpaid taxes levied against oil and gas operations and machinery and equipment and linear property.
The County of Stettler is asking for support in requesting amendments to the MGA and other provincial legislation to improve municipalities ability to recover unpaid taxes levied against oil and gas operations and the associated machinery and equipment and linear property.
Our unpaid school tax from 2013 to 2016 was 1523.20 and MD Foundation was $77.60; 2017 is estimated at $20,614.01 for School and 1,038.32 for MD Foundation.